


Swimming Pools Are Magic

by hyxcinthus



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, I Love You, M/M, Swimming, Swimming Pools, its just rly cute, like they deserve, they swim around and have a good time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23098597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyxcinthus/pseuds/hyxcinthus
Summary: “The last time I went swimming was with my mom. We were camping and the lake looked so clear that we had to jump in. Never been to a pool though. My mom didn’t like all the chemicals they put in the water.”Alex sat up and looked down at me. “And now?”A small smile formed on my face. “I’m dead. Chemicals don’t matter. Do they even put chemicals in that pool? Couldn’t they just, I dunno, clean it by magic?”Alex laughed. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”“That’s exactly how it works.”
Relationships: Magnus Chase/Alex Fierro
Comments: 4
Kudos: 168





	Swimming Pools Are Magic

“How did I just find out that Valhalla has a pool?” I said after entering Alex’s room. She was lying down in the atrium, looking up at the tree, not acknowledging my words. “I mean, seriously, this place needs a map.”

I lied down beside her. We were quiet for a moment. Then, Alex reached out for my hand, lacing our fingers together. “I haven’t been swimming in a long time,” she said.

“The last time I went swimming was with my mom. We were camping and the lake looked so clear that we had to jump in. Never been to a pool though. My mom didn’t like all the chemicals they put in the water.”

Alex sat up and looked down at me. “And now?”

A small smile formed on my face. “I’m dead. Chemicals don’t matter. Do they even put chemicals in that pool? Couldn’t they just, I dunno, clean it by magic?”

Alex laughed. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“That’s _exactly_ how it works.”

She shook her head and stood, pushing her green hair out of her eyes. “Let me get changed and then we can go.” She helped me up then promptly pushed me out of her room.

I got changed into my Valhalla provided swim trunks. It wasn’t the first time Alex has seen me without my shirt off, but it is the first time she’s seen my chest not covered in chocolate. It made me feel weirdly self conscious. I put on a shirt to wear as we walked to the pool and slipped on some shoes.

Alex knocked on my door a couple of minutes later. She— no, _he_ , was wearing one of the hoodies that he’d stolen from my closet and a pair of sweatpants. When I walked out, I saw the rest of floor nineteen standing there too. Mallory with her fiery red hair and equally fiery red swimsuit cover up. TJ in a full wetsuit. Halfborn, who had no shame apparently, stood there bare chested in his swim trunks. He didn’t even have socks on.

I was kind of hoping that it’d just be me and Alex, like a date. It’s not that we’ve never _been_ on a date, we’ve been on several since we held hands on the roof of the Chase Space, but this felt more personal. I thought I could get Alex to open up more in the quiet of the empty pool room.

Well, I’d never had the best of luck.

We all headed to the elevator. Alex walked ahead with TJ, talking about gods know what. Mallory sidled up to me. “Awww cheer up, Beantown,” she said. “He’ll pay attention to you in a little.”

“I’m not— I don’t—” I started, but Mallory cut me off.

“You two are dating now. You don’t have to hide how you feel about him anymore, you know.”

I sighed. “I know.”

When we finally got to the pool, Mallory shucked off her cover up and hopped in. Halfborn quickly followed. TJ sat on the side of the pool, letting his feet dangle in the water, trying to get used to the temperature first. Mallory and Halfborn pulled on both of his legs and submerged him.

Alex chuckled. I didn’t even realize he was beside me until then. When I looked over, I saw that he’d already taken off his hoodie and sweatpants to reveal a dark green one piece swimsuit with light pink swim trunks over it. He waved a hand in front of my face. “You there, Maggie?”

I looked away, feeling my face heat up. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

He pulled at my shirt. “You coming in?”

I realized then that everyone was watching us. Mallory stopped trying to drown TJ and gave me a smirk.

“Oh, uh, yes. Gimme a sec.”

They did not give me a sec.

Alex pushed me into the pool shirt and all. I let out a yelp as I fell. After I resurfaced, I coughed up a bunch of water and glared at Alex. “I’m gonna get you back for that Fierro.”

He stuck out his tongue at me.

I peeled off my shirt and threw it at him. It didn’t do much since he was already in his bathing suit, but it was enough to startle him.

He dove into the pool. I saw him swim toward me. I tried to move away, but I wasn’t fast enough. Stupid water. He grabbed my ankle and pulled me under. We wrestled for a bit before finally coming back up for air. I tried to catch my breath, but I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t quite get my breathing to level out.

Alex grinned brightly at me before planting a kiss on my cheek. That _really_ messed up my breathing.

Over to the side, I heard someone snicker. I looked over to see Mallory with a hand over her mouth, the others with smiles on their faces.

“I think,” Mallory started after she got her giggling under control. “That I should go. I’m kind of tired.” She let out a yawn that was obviously fake and nudged the others.

TJ and Halfborn caught on to what she was doing and started spewing other excuses about why they needed to leave, but how me and Alex should _totally_ stay. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

_Subtle._

Alex looked confused. He sat on the edge of the pool once the others left. I let myself float on my back. Alex sighed. “It’s nice here,” he said softly.

“It is,” I replied, matching Alex’s tone. “That’s Valhalla for you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Alex said. “I meant, it’s nice here _with you_.”

I tried turning to look at him, but ended up with a nose full of water. Alex laughed at that. His face looked open and true. His heterochromic eyes gleamed as the blue lights of the pool painted his face. It was beautiful. _He_ was beautiful.

I climbed out of the pool and sat next to him. He curled an arm around mine and let his head rest on my shoulder.

We soaked in the silence. I listened to him breathe. After a beat, I spoke.

“I like being here with you too.”

When he first said it, it felt like Alex was giving something up. I gave it back to him. I will always give it back to him.

He pulled away from me and turned my head so I would look at him. I leaned in and kissed him. He kissed me back, a hand placed lightly on my cheek. _Kissing him will never get boring_ , I thought to myself. And I literally had until the end of the world to test out that theory. Unless Alex got bored of me first.

Though by the way he was kissing me, I had the strange feeling that he wouldn’t.

When we broke apart, his lips twitched up ever so slightly. “I love you,” he blurted out. My breath hitched. Alex snapped his mouth shut and turned away. It was the first time either of us have said it. Alex occasionally teased me about my undying love for him, but none of us has ever said it in a serious context.

I could tell it wasn’t planned. Whenever Alex talked about his feelings, it always felt meticulously crafted inside his head before he said anything out loud. This didn’t feel like the other times. It was such an unguarded statement that it startled me.

“Oh.”

Because of course I said the worst possible thing I could say.

Alex let out a sigh. “Right.”

“No, crap, wait. I didn’t mean—”

“Magnus,” he said, stopping my rambling. “I get it. It’s fine.” He stood up and slung a towel around his neck. I was frozen in my spot. “You don’t have to feel the same or whatever. We— we haven’t been together for that long.”

When I found that I could move, I got up from where I was sitting and grabbed onto Alex’s towel, holding him in place. He looked up at me.

“It just shocked me a bit. You’re not usually so… open with how you feel,” I said.

“Yeah, well…”

I took in a breath. “I love you too.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I’m not saying it to make you feel better,” I said, giving him a small smile. “I mean it. I love you, Alex Fierro.”

He tried to fight back a smile, but wasn’t very successful. I went to plant a kiss on his forehead, but he ducked away from me. Too much sentimentality for one night.

He threw me a sly grin over his shoulder. “I’m exhausted. You coming or what?”

I grinned back, dried myself off, and we walked back to hall nineteen hand in hand.


End file.
